Only two doctors were left to cover out-of-hours GP services in an area with a population of more than 1.4 million, it has been reported. GPs’ leaders condemned the situation as “completely unacceptable” after a manager had called the staffing level in Kent unsafe in an email to bosses.
The Health Service Journal (HSJ) cited a leaked email that said the two GPs in question were forced to decide who had priority for visits, including some patients in palliative care, besides their own duties during an overnight shift on a weekend in early September.
According to the HSJ, the email to senior managers read: “I need to let you know that the service is currently unsafe and has been overnight. We had two GPs and one [advanced nurse practitioner] in East Kent and two ANPs in west Kent overnight.”
Full story in The Guardian, 16 January 2019
